Absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins, diapers, adult incontinence products, and the like, are designed to be worn in close proximity to the crotch of the wearer. Absorbent articles need to provide for fluid acquisition and retention and need to be comfortable to wear, and usually comprise an absorbent structure having the capacity to acquire large amount of liquid under a short period of time.
Upon usage of such absorbent articles, it is desirable that they are thin and discreet to wear, and that they at the same time rapidly can acquire and store a large amount of liquid discharged during a short period of time and then store this liquid in the article.
One method to improve absorbency is to increase the width or thickness of the absorbent article. However, this approach may compromise with less comfortable pad for the consumer as the body is naturally narrow in the front region and becomes broader towards the back while the pudendal region is found in the front and most of the discharge exits the body in the front region. This creates a tradeoff between comfort and increased protection.
Another approach to improve absorbency is to adopt multiple core layers where at least an additional absorbent core is placed on a bottom absorbent core to cover at least a partial region of a surface of the bottom absorbent core which requires higher absorbent capacity than other regions. This approach may not be cost effective by using extra absorbent core material as the entire region having multiple core layers may not require the increased absorbent capacity resulted from employing the multiple core layers.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for an absorbent article which is cost effective while not sacrificing absorbency and comfort.